MUSKEGON, Mich. (WOOD) — The line of strong storms that ripped through the region Tuesday morning seriously damaged at least eight homes and left about half the local roads in Muskegon County impassable, Michigan State Police say.

MSP said early Tuesday afternoon that emergency workers were checking to make sure no one was trapped.

Police blamed many of the road closures on downed power lines. Crews are working on clearing the roadways.

Strong thunderstorms leave thousands without power

DOWNED TREES, DAMAGED ROOFS

Uprooted trees, downed branches, utility lines and other debris littered the neighborhood in the area of Lakeshore Drive and McGraft Street in Muskegon.

“Looked outside and heard a lot of rumbling and a lot of noise, and I saw the transformer right outside my window starting to go out and flash that crazy blue arc. And then the tree next to the house, a very large tree, started to turn and spin and just kind of came apart,” neighbor Jeff Cook said. “The neighborhood is a total mess. There’s trees down everywhere — massive, old trees.”

Another neighbor, Katie, said that the transformer and a downed tree caught fire, but the torrential rain doused it quickly.

One resident recalled the wind picking up downed branches, sending them swirling in the air. A tree came down onto a parked car.

Vickie and Rocky Ybarra said roofing from two doors down crashed into their house.

“It was like a jet plane hit the house and I yelled to my husband, just, ‘We’ve got to get to the basement.’ And that’s I think when that tree fell,” Vickie Ybarra recalled, pointing to a limb that landed on their roof. “It was crazy.”

“The tree … has a long branch that extends over … the yard, and that tree limb was swinging,” Rocky Ybarra said. “And the wife and I decided we better get out of better and hit the ground trying to get out of here and right after that, that tree limb came off and everything started to happen.”

Cook said he saw the roof come off his neighbor’s house. Part of it landed in his yard.

“That ceiling is a 2-by-12 joist ceiling. I can’t imagine how much that weighs. Incredible,” he said. “And it came across the street, through the power lines and landed in our front yard. Did some damage to a couple of the vehicles out front here, too.”

Cook, who is a paramedic, said he checked on his neighbors and everyone seemed to be OK.

More roofing was wrapped around a nearby utility line, where it hung suspended until Consumers Energy workers in a bucket truck got it down around noon.

The damage is believed to have been caused by strong straight-line winds, not a tornado. The National Weather Service reported 71 mph wind gusts in the Muskegon area. Neighbors described a storm that seemed like a hurricane.

Why did I hear sirens if there was no tornado?

The Muskegon County emergency operations center was activated in the wake of the storm. MSP directed residents to report damage using an online survey tool. Anyone who needs resources like food or housing should call 211.

MARINA BUILDING ‘TOTALED’

The storm also ripped the roof from a building at a North Muskegon marina.

“Very early this morning the wind came through. It basically somehow lifted up the roof, which flew over onto the other side, and it collapsed the walls and the big door,” Pointe Marine Association Operations Manager Brenda Meyer described.

“It’s totaled. Our heated building portion is totaled,” she said of the building, which is used to store boats and equipment. “Not only was this destroyed, but the cold storage building further, those doors have been whipped in.”

She said that as the roof came off, pieces went flying toward the harbor and hit several boats.

“Everybody’s OK. Even the marina cat is fine,” Meyer said.

Two people who were staying the night at the marina in their sailboat, which they have been working on.

“They were inside the boat. It’s basically like being inside a trash can. It’s made out of metal. It was probably the safest place for them,” she said.

She said the two alerted management to the damage and workers rushed to the marina.

“When we first got here, it was shock,” Meyer said. “We were like, ‘Holy crap, what are we gonna do?’ Now it’s just, get down, get busy, start cleaning up, rebuild it and get back to business.”

She said an insurance adjuster was expected at the marina off Ruddiman Drive on the north side of Muskegon Lake later Tuesday to help figure out what would happen next. Boat owners, she said, would have to work with their individual insurance companies.

North of Muskegon, Michigan’s Adventure amusement park said it would be closed Tuesday, citing the bad weather an a loss of power. Nearby Bent Pine Golf Club was also closed Tuesday and likely Wednesday because of storm damage, with the owner saying there were about 20 downed trees on the course.

Inside woodtv.com: Consumers Energy power outage map

The storm also brought down power lines and trees elsewhere in West Michigan. It broke out a window at the post office in downtown Grand Rapids.

The only injury report News 8 has heard of came from Ottawa County, where the emergency management director said a jogger was hit by a falling tree branch in Grand Haven. The jogger was hospitalized; the emergency manager director did not know the person’s condition.

About 150,000 Consumers Energy customers statewide were left without power, including more than 30,000 customers in Muskegon County alone.

You should always stay at least 25 feet away from downed power lines. If you see one, call 911 and Consumers Energy.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WOODTV.com.